*****
“How does one man make as much noise as you? You sound like a fucking rhino. I don’t blame Hanna.” Ben took a pillow and fired it at Kip.
“Hey man, don’t hit below the belt.”
“Let me sleep then.”
“I’m gone for the day. Get your rest sleeping beauty.”
Kip left for work with his gear in hand. Ben dropped onto the couch and buried his head in a pillow. He couldn’t wait until Kip got his own place. It was like living with a frat kid.
CHAPTER THREE
“Are you alright?” Nancy, a middle aged portly nurse asked.
“I ah, I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine.”
“I love our patients, but I’m not strong enough to do this job. I can’t keep watching these kids...” Aubrey trailed off.
“You’re stronger than you know.” Nancy walked over and hugged her. “Go home, enjoy your weekend off. You deserve a little down time. And don’t go working on that bakery of yours.”
“I’ll try.” Aubrey zipped up her leather boots and stuffed her scrubs into her backpack. “I’ll see you next week.”
She waved to Nancy and walked back to her new GMC pickup. Her baby.
Aubrey had another one of “those” days. A day where she hated her job and couldn’t wait to hang up her scrubs permanently. Another few months of putting the final touches on the bakery and it would be ready to open. She relished the thought. No more long commutes, no more nights spent crying over the events of the day. Losing young patients was hard, something she couldn’t adjust to, no matter how many times she’d witnessed it. On this day it was a twelve year old boy, Kel, a cancer patient.
His passing had been unexpected. He’d succumbed after complications with his treatment and Aubrey had spent all afternoon with his family. Her co-workers told her she needed to separate her emotion and put distance between herself and her work, but she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t dehumanize her emotions. As she thought about the day and Kel, she began to do what she did so many drives home.
And then she saw a familiar sight. One she was not excited to see. Flashing blue lights.
“You have to be kidding me,” she said in disbelief. No such luck. The blue lights caught up to her and she obediently pulled to the side of the road, sliding the car into park. She hoped it wasn’t Trooper Asshole. It couldn’t be, her luck wouldn’t be that bad. She wiped her eyes and tried to hide any proof that she’d been crying.
A flashlight shone in her face, again.
“License, registration, proof of insurance.”
“Oh shit,” Aubrey said immediately when she recognized the voice. Trooper Asshole.
“Oh shit is right.”
She passed the information to him. After the last disaster, she’d put her registration, insurance, and license together in her purse.
“You had it ready this time. No digging. Is getting pulled over a constant occurrence for you?”
“No, sir.” Aubrey remembered his words of advice. She wasn’t going to push it. The $500 worth of tickets sitting on her counter were a reminder of what Asshole was capable of when pissed off. And he seemed pissed off without her provocation.
“The thing is Miss Devlin, you haven’t learned your lesson. You were going nearly thirty over the last time I caught you less than two weeks ago. Tonight I catch speeding yet again. What are you in such a hurry to get to at two in the morning?”
“Home.” If she kept her answers short and sweet she wouldn’t get in trouble. And he wouldn’t be able to hear the emotion in her voice if she didn’t talk.
“Is home not going to be in the same place if you go the speed limit?”
“Yes sir, it would be.” Don’t yell...don’t yell at him...keep calm.
“So, you just don’t care what the speed limit is? Is that the problem we have here?”
Aubrey took a deep breath and shielded her eyes from the flashlight. She wasn’t going to engage in the argument he tried to incite.
“Do you know how fast you were going tonight?”
Aubrey wasn’t in the mood for this.
“No, I honestly don’t.” She put her hand down and looked at him. He lowered the light so she could see.
“Sixty eight in a fifty. Slower than our last meeting, but you still need improvement.”
I’m screwed. She wiped her eyes again.
“Have you had anything to drink tonight Miss Devlin?”
“What?” she said shocked. “No, I haven’t had anything to drink.”
Trooper Asshole stared at her bloodshot eyes and leaned closer to her truck. She wouldn’t admit she’d been crying, nor why. She didn’t need to explain herself to him.
“Can you step out of the vehicle please?”
“I haven’t had anything to drink, I just got out of work.” Aubrey was truly blown away at his accusation.
“If you’ve had nothing to drink, you have nothing to worry about. Step out of the vehicle please, I’m going to ask you to perform a series of field sobriety tests.”
“You can’t be serious? This isn’t happening.” She put her hand on her forehead. Another stellar night. “I haven’t had anything to drink and I don’t need to prove that to you.”
And the defiant, argumentative Aubrey was back.
“Listen, Miss Devin,” Asshole’s voice grew testy. “You have two options at this point. You can step out of your vehicle and perform the sobriety tests as I’ve instructed you and if you’ve had nothing to drink, you continue on your merry way. Or you can refuse. If you choose to refuse you will be arrested. No passing GO, no collecting two hundred dollars, you go straight to jail. Those are your options. What will it be?”
Aubrey stared at him coldly then opened her door and stepped into the cool air. This time Asshole didn’t have his hat on. As she stood beside him she fully gauged his height. He was about an inch taller than her, 5’8” and definitely didn’t weigh much more than her. She was a built 160. He was a builtish 165 soaking wet. He had short blond hair and a visible scar between his nose and upper lip. Yup, she could definitely take the little man.
“Go to the front of my car.” Asshole motioned for her to walk in front of him. She obeyed. She followed his instructions to a tee with no difficulty passing all of the tests.
“You may go back and sit in your car,” he said when she’d completed the last test. “I’ll be right with you.”
Aubrey walked back to her car.
I HATE HIM.
She leaned her head over the steering wheel and held back the emotion bubbling under the surface.
Don’t cry...don’t cry...don’t let him see you cry. The tears wouldn’t be shed on Asshole’s accord, but Kel’s.
“You know the drill here.” Asshole passed her the clipboard. Aubrey didn’t question what would happen if she didn’t sign the ticket this go around.
“Yes, sir.” Aubrey signed the ticket and passed it to him.
“I cut you a break. I wrote you a ticket for nine miles an hour over.”
Does he expect me to thank him?
“I expect this to be the last time I see you. Another encounter and you’ll likely lose your license due to the amount of points you’ll have on it.”
“I hope it’s the last time too.” Aubrey looked up at him void of emotion.
“We’re in agreement Miss Devlin. Have a good night.” Asshole walked away.
Aubrey looked skyward. “I hate you. I fucking hate you! You are such a cruel God. Why? Why would you—”
“Miss Devlin, do you have something you’d like to add to our conversation?” Asshole’s hands were on his hips, his body language conveyed his displeasure.
Aubrey dropped her head onto the steering wheel. She had been cursing God. The Almighty. Not Asshole.
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
“Is there someone else here that I do not see? Do you see anyone else?” Asshole’s voice was angry.
“I wasn’t talking t
o you, honestly.” She picked her head up. “I just want to go home.”
Asshole didn’t move.
“Then I suggest you stop mouthing off and go home before this escalates to a point you don’t want it to go.”
“Is that a threat?” Aubrey said upset.
“It’s a promise. Go.” Asshole walked away again. Aubrey rolled up her window and headed onto the road. What a night.
*****
The next time I pull Toad over, her ass is going to jail.
“604, Green, I’m 10-8.”
“10-4, 604.”
Her truck and license plate were seared into his memory. He wouldn’t be able to forget them if he tried. Black GMC truck, license plate GNNY, most unpleasant woman on Route 121. With the speeding tickets he’d given her, she was on a fast track to lose her license. Ben would be more than happy to help her succeed in that feat.
His shift was over. Time to go home.
“Green, 604.”
“Son of a—” Ben stewed and then picked up the mic on his radio. “604, go ahead.”
“Domestic situation, husband and wife, verbal only at this time, but escalating. No weapons. 236 Deer Run Lane, Big Moose Lake Township.”
“10-4. I’ll be enroute from Greenville.”
Big Moose Lake happened to be one town north of where Aubrey lived. Ben turned his vehicle around, switched on the blues, and headed toward Big Moose Lake. Moments later he came upon Aubrey’s vehicle. He knew she would be shitting bricks at the sight of his blue lights, again. The thought made him smile.
*****
“What the hell?” Aubrey said in utter disbelief of the blue lights. “I know I haven’t done anything this time.”
And then the lights continued by her. She looked in front of her, then back, then in front again. The blue lights weren’t for her. That was a first. She pulled back onto the road and continued.
The single story bakery was nearly done. She’d bought it at a steal, in need of renovations in every possible way, and worked for the past year doing just that. The theme was 1960’s soda shop, vintage with all of her decorations from that timeframe. She had to refinish the trim and paint the walls and it would look like a real business.
Aubrey unlocked the front door and walked to the corner table. It was covered in paint cans. She would paint one wall that night and return the following day to work on another. A little bit at a time she told herself. The air was bitter cold and she didn’t want to turn the oil heat on for all of an hour or two, so she turned on the space heater to warm the space where she painted. It kept her hands warm enough to function.
She worked on the wall for an hour and was too exhausted to continue. Slumping into one of the finished booths, she laid her head on the table and nearly passed out. It was bedtime.
The day following was to be her girls night. Something to look forward to after endless amounts of work.
If her family didn’t all live in Florida, she would have an abundance of help, but since they did, it was on her. Her friends stopped by occasionally to chip in, but she didn’t expect it.
Aubrey closed the door and locked it behind her. It was coming along.
*****
Ben cleared the domestic at 3:30am. A husband and wife bickering over the television, of all things. Ben wasn’t sure when a State Trooper’s job description changed to that of a marriage counselor, but that was exactly what he’d done. Considering he was a single man, it was outside his area of expertise.
“Killington Fire Department, fully involved structure fire reported at 344 Main Street. Again, Killington Fire, structure fire 344 Main Street. Redmond clear 0335 hours.” Redmond was the county dispatch center, they dispatched for all of the municipal police departments and fire departments.
Killington had its own police department, but they didn’t sign on duty until 8am. Between midnight and eight, there was an officer “on call”. Ben saw where this was going. They’d call the on call officer, but Ben was right there and it was a heavily travelled road.
“Green, 604.”
“I’ll be en route to assist with traffic.” He beat them to the punch. “Is this a business?”
“10-4. It’s a business in the process of renovations.”
“10-4. I should be there in about five.”
Ben clicked the mic back on the radio and switched his blues on again. This had been a never ending night. The day began at 10am. It was going on 4am and he still had no prospect of getting home.
*****
Aubrey’s phone rang.
“What the hell,” she mumbled. It was 3:50am. Who the hell would be calling her at that hour? An unknown number. Maybe it was Mack.
“Hello,” she answered.
“Hi this is Melanie with the Redmond County Dispatch Center. Are you the business owner of 344 Main Street?”
“Yes.”
“The fire department is at your business now. We took a report of a structure fire—”
“I’m on my way.” Aubrey hung up the phone, threw on a pair of jeans, and went out the door.
“Space heater.” Aubrey remembered as she spun onto the road. “I left the damn space heater on, I can’t believe I did that. Son of a bitch!”
*****
Ben blocked off one side of the road with his cruiser, the fire department did their part on the other side. Though it was early, traffic already began to become an issue. Motorists would have to take a side street to bypass the fire. It wouldn’t take a genius to find their way around, but not all people are geniuses after all.
Two additional fire departments were called to assist. The business would be a complete loss. The fire departments’ only job at that point was to save the neighboring businesses.
Out of the corner of his eye, on the opposite side of the fully engulfed business, Ben saw a commotion with two firefighters. He jogged away from his cruiser toward what looked like a fight. The firefighters wrestled with a woman in an attempt to keep her back from the blaze. It had to be the owner.
“No, no!” The yells could be heard over the loud sounds of the fire scene. Ben joined in the fray and tried to pull the woman back. She was a fighter. Jesus. A loud explosion rocked the building.
“What is in there for fuel?” a firefighter yelled at her. She continued her fight to push through them. She was in panic mode.
“What is there for fuel? Combustibles?” the firefighter asked again. Ben held her back by her shoulders.
“Propane. And oil. And paint,” she said barely audible. Another explosion. The firefighters jogged away from the woman and Ben. He hadn’t seen her face, nor had she seen his. A third explosion rocked the building. An impressive explosion. It cemented in this woman’s mind that her business had literally gone up in flames.
“No!” she yelled again and tried to take off. Ben grabbed her shoulders and held her back. It didn’t work. She broke free and bolted forward. Ben jogged after her and grabbed her by the center. She was about the same size as him, so she put up a fair fight. “Let me go!”
“Calm down!” Ben yelled at her. She wrestled with him. Ben wrapped his arms around her pinning her arms at her sides. Walking backward, he pulled her back to a safe distance. “It’s too late.”
She continued to resist.
“Stop!” Ben tightened his grip. “They’re doing all they can, but there is nothing you can do.”
She went still in his arms. Ben loosened his grip. And to his shock, she turned around and hugged him. Ben saw her face in the darkness, but she hadn’t seen his, her eyes were closed.
TOAD.
What were the odds? Toad was everywhere he turned.
“I’ve spent years...” Her voice shook and steam rose from her mouth in the cold morning air. “Working and scraping by to buy....and build this.”
“You can rebuild.” Ben tried to play nice.
“You da...don’t understand.” She gripped his shirt. “This was my dream. It...It’s why I work eighty hours a week. And I was...w
as going to be able...to get done my job...so I could...could make a go of it. Na..now I have to start all over again. I ca...can’t do it.” She trembled from the cold in his arms.
Ben sighed. This was perfect. How could he be snappy and hate her when she was a broken down mess hugging him like velcro.
“It’s going to be okay.” He tried for convincing, but came off as obligatory.
Letters of Love (Green Division Series Book #3) Page 2
